We take a look at what was said in the market in the past week.
“The market is not going any lower. I would encourage anyone with deep pockets to move into the sector. If you do not have deep pockets, then buy stock in these companies.”
George Economou gives deepwater drilling, and his very own DryShips, the thumbs up. Fancy that.
“Of course, if somebody came in and said, ‘here is a crazy price’ then we would have to consider it, but at this point that is not a priority or an option.”
Chief operating officer Pankaj Khanna rubbishes suggestions DryShips could be about to sell off one of its four drillships...well, kind of.
(Sale of drillship ‘off the mark’.)
“One extremely important trend is that the KG market has had very difficult times over the past few years and we expect that they will remain on the sidelines for at least the next couple of years.”
Costamare chief executive Constantinos Constantakopoulos indulges in a spot of shadenfreude as the Greek prepares for its IPO in New York.
(Costamare cites KG woes in IPO hype.)
“This is my family business, where I spend all my time, and we are fully committed to grow and protect the value of this company.”
Constantakopoulos will need to get out more if the road show is to prove a success.
(Costamare cites KG woes in IPO hype.)
“However, due to the oligopolistic nature of the car carrier industry, the main players have showed a high degree of chastity through continued scrapping and few new orders.”
Erik Nikolai Stavseth, an analyst at Arctic Securities, reckons it’s hard to penetrate the car-carrier business right now.
“I don’t have a crystal ball, but I think there is still the potential for new setbacks.”
Andreas Sohmen-Pao, chief executive of BW Group, who is still worried about the state of the shipping industry.
“Please note that a reverse stock split does not tell whether a company is good or bad as it is completely irrelevant to company performance.”
Top Ships CFO Alexandros Tsirikos reckons investors shouldn’t concentrate on share price stuff as the Greek prepares for another reverse stock split.
(Top Ships aims to reverse out of danger.)
“We consider ourselves in a way a Greek/Chinese company as opposed to pure Greek.”
Dr Babis Ziogas of Sino-Greek owner MFS Group which has steadily built up a diversified fleet totaling 17 ships.
(The benefits of being ‘a shipowner and investment banker’.)
“We were selling vessels all the way to the day Lehman Brothers collapsed.”
Ziogas clearly heeded the ‘sell, sell, sell’ signal long before anyone on Wall Street.
(The benefits of being ‘a shipowner and investment banker’.)
“To do business in Brazil, you have to do it a certain way. We are slightly nervous about having an office there.”
Braemar boss Alan Marsh has no intention of setting out his stall on Copacabana beach.
(Braemar rethinks broking base in Brazil.)
“If the yen continues at its current level, the shipbuilding industry will have to raise its hands.”
Shigemi Kuruhama, president of IHI Marine United, warns Japan’s government that the strong yen could spell disaster for shipbuilding in the country.
(Yen nightmare sees some opt to throw in the towel.)
“If AKPS is unable to expand its current backlog, it would be challenging to continue as a going concern after delivery of NB 016.”
Aker Philly in a dire warning of possible things to come if it can’t win new orders.
“There are people swapping places in the US market, sniffing around on both the owning and broking side.”
Frank Kehlskov Mortensen, CEO of Danish broker Lightship Chartering which is to take on the big boys in the US by opening up a Stamford office.
(Danish brokers set up US shops.)
“It is a typical example of the bottom end of the FOC market and the benefits if offers unscrupulous owners. I hope that crew starvation will not be added to the list of breaches already committed.”
John Wood, flags of convenience campaign advisor to the ITF, lets fly at the owner and manager of the Nord Scan Mumbai as crew complain they have not been paid.
(Union slams ‘bottom end’ of FOC market in cargoship row.)
“Shall I bring the whole shipping community on board? I have some financial problems that his brain cannot understand.”
Saeed Nisyf of Suntech Corp, the ship’s manager, reckons John can’t see the wood for the trees.
(Union slams ‘bottom end’ of FOC market in cargoship row.)
“Our colleagues on board have gotten off rather lightly from this attack¿Our not least financially outstanding effort to provide our seafarers with the greatest possible safety and security on the vessels as well as the ongoing practise of stressful situations and rehearsal of well-considered behaviour during a pirate attack, all of which we have been training in seminars and workshops for many years, have proved more than worthwhile.”
Beluga Shipping is rather chuffed that its ship Beluga Fortune avoided hijacking off Somalia after crew hid in a citadel.
“It is a wistful feeling when the ship leaves and work is over for a long time. Still, there is some light at the end of the tunnel.”
Jari Aalto, chief shop steward at STX’s yard in Turku, Finland which has laid off workers until at least next summer as RCCL’s Allure of the Seas nears delivery.
“The question in this appeal is whether one of the exceptions to the rule should be that facts identified during without prejudice negotiations which lead to a settlement agreement of the dispute between the parties are admissible in evidence in order to ascertain the true construction of the agreement as part of its factual matrix or surrounding circumstances.”
It’s hard to believe Lord Clark delivered this snooze-fest in favour of Nobu Su’s TMT and against Greece’s Oceanbulk to anything other than an empty court room.
